Nightmares
by LoLoLaLoco
Summary: Winter is a harsh month and nightmares only make it worse. But Kyoko's nightmares might be worse still (Jack/OFC to follow on from Demon Eyes and Selfish) Mentions of sexual abuse


Kyoko hated winter. She hated the cold the way it got under your skin and clung to your bones, the way it was almost impossible to shake and Jack couldn't blame her. Growing up in Satellite in the winter months you did everything you could to survive and to stay warm, in Martha's they usually slept two to a bed to try and stave off the terrible cold. They couldn't afford extra blankets and any that they might find by the wayside were usually filthy and only fit for dogs.

It wasn't until his Team Satisfaction days where Jack had to make do with whatever flea ridden rag he could find that he missed his time in Martha's, he would lay awake at night and think that he was a fool to argue about having to share with Yusei when they were younger, sometimes Kyoko would spend the night with him and they'd huddle together for warmth but more often than not Jack was left to his own devices.

* * *

Even though she lived in a proper apartment now and not just a squat Kyoko still piled on all the extra blankets she could find when the weather turned cold. Remembering her days sleeping rough in Satellite and the awful cold and how it seeped into her skin Kyoko's apartment was usually an inferno.

It was usually around the winter months that Jack didn't see as much of Kyoko as he would at any other time of the year. She kept herself secluded and no one really seemed to know why. Kiryu seemed to be the only one she'd talk to but even then it was in letters and never over the phone even though Kiryu had one for keeping in touch with Yusei.

Jack had a pretty good idea though. He always knew that Kyoko didn't just make some extra cash selling things that 'fell' off the back of trucks heading to and from the city, there was no way she could sustain an income just by doing that alone and besides the corrupt Security officers usually always insisted on taking a cut of the profits in exchange for looking the other way when deals were done with items that mysteriously fell from the back of a truck.

When he was younger and stupid Jack often wondered where exactly Kyoko learnt all her _tricks_ from. If she was seeing someone else who was teaching her all these things, he always knew deep down that there was something else Kyoko was doing while he Yusei, Crow and Kiryu waged war on the gangs in Satellite he just never admitted to himself what it was because if she wouldn't talk about it neither would he.

It was no surprise to him then that when he did see Kyoko that she looked a little worse for wear. Her skin was paler than usual and she seemed even thinner if that was possible, true growing up the way she had Kyoko never looked anything else other than thin she and Yusei had the same issue with food in that they wouldn't forget to eat but they'd gone without food for so long that they couldn't handle eating anything large and they were perfectly fine with going without for days.

Jack knew right away what was wrong, but of course Kyoko denied everything,

"If you've come just to tell me I look skinny and pathetic you can leave" she hissed, "I don't need you to tell me that"

"I'm not saying you look pathetic!" Jack countered, "I'm saying it's pathetic that you think you have to hide the fact that you have nightmares from the rest of us!"

Who among them didn't have nightmares Jack thought. He knew Yusei still had nightmares about Zero Reverse and Crow about those kids he looked after being used as Sacrifices for the Earthbound Immortals. He himself had nightmares about his childhood and what could happen to a slightly androgynous fifteen year old alone in Satellite especially after dark,

"Fuck off Jack I didn't ask you to come over you came by yourself!" Kyoko yelled, "You don't know anything so don't fucking act like you do!"

"I know enough!" Jack yelled back,

"No you don't! While you and the others were on your stupid crusade to conquer Satellite the rest of us were still in the gutter and you stepped right over us! We made do with what we had because unlike some people the rest of us didn't have rich men willing to pull us from obscurity!"

"You know why Godwin wanted me!" Jack yelled back, "You know it has nothing to do with being from Satellite! If I was born in the city it wouldn't have mattered! All that mattered was this mark on my arm!" Jack shoved his sleeve up so Kyoko could see the birthmark of the crimson dragon on his arm,

"It doesn't matter Jack because you left anyway didn't you? You were that desperate to be King that you endangered someone who'd never been anything but nice to you, a kid who looked up to you and you put him in danger just so you could get Stardust from Yusei and leave us all in your dust!" Kyoko yelled

It was long overdue this fight Jack supposed. After all Kyoko had only slapped him the last time, she did look ready to kill him that time in Martha's and if Crow and Yusei hadn't held her back he was so sure she would have,

"I didn't want to rot away in Satellite forever!" Jack yelled even louder, by now he was sure someone would have called security because they were screaming at each other again,

"NO ONE DID BUT WE DIDN'T ABANDON OUR FRIENDS AND LEAVE THEM AT THE MERCY OF THE ASSHOLES WHO WERE STILL THERE!" Kyoko finally screamed, "You don't know what leaving did to everyone, not just Yusei. Anyone who was associated with you in any way, everyone knew that you'd abandoned us and stolen the D Wheel Yusei poured his heart and soul into. Everyone heard what you'd done to Rally and for those of us who were associated with you life became a living hell"

"Kyoko –"

"I couldn't get anyone to buy anything I found. I was starving and pretty sure I was gonna die when a man offered me a job and I took it because it was all I knew how to do. You have no idea Jack" Kyoko was shaking now, "The things they did the things I had to do"

Jack reached out to comfort her but Kyoko flinched away like an angry cat,

"Don't fucking touch me" she spat, "Get out"

"Koyko –"

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" she screamed beating at his chest, "I never want to see you again!" as hard as Kyoko hit it was nothing she was too weak to do any real damage probably from not having slept in days,

"I didn't know"

"Of course you didn't because while you were lording it up in your penthouse in the city the rest of us were forgotten" Kyoko pulled away from Jack as he tried to put his arms around her again, "Do you know what it's like to have every hole in your body used so some asshole can get his kicks?"

Jack was struck dumb. He didn't think it was that bad, he was so sure if that was what Kyoko was doing it was on her own terms,

"Are you telling me that –"

"I was basically the lowest of the low? I couldn't even get a man to sleep with me without him paying for it? And it wasn't like I could charge my old rates either I had to let these assholes grope me and use me as their own little fuck doll for pennies" Kyoko was shaking even harder than before, her rage had apparently only amplified by remembering these horrible things.

Jack was about to speak when the knock came at the door, he didn't even have to ask to know who it was,

"It's open" Kyoko called apparently she knew too,

"And here I thought you guys had stopped fighting" Kazama sighed as he pushed the door open, "You know the drill by now"

"Yeah we got it" Kyoko spat back, she was never harsh to Kazama. Jack must have really fucked up this time.

* * *

Once again they were both handcuffed and brought to the local station and again they were made to sit in the holding cell until Yusei came with the money Kyoko had him keep for bail,

"I didn't know" Jack said after an hour of silence, each time they got arrested Yusei made them wait longer and longer hoping that if he made them wait long enough they wouldn't get arrested for fighting anymore,

"Of course you didn't you never bothered to check on any of us. If you had you would have seen Yusei putting his heart and soul into a new D Wheel so he could get his Stardust back so he could prove to you that he was your equal. You would have seen Crow be arrested again for trying to provide for those kids of his. Martha struggling to look after the kids she already has plus Crow's kids. I gave every penny I earned to Martha so she could look after those kids especially in the winter. You know how cold it gets out there"

"We had to double up in the beds because we were so cold" Jack nodded, "Yusei was so skinny if I didn't sleep beside him he would have frozen to death"

"I didn't want those kids to have to go through that so I endured. I let those assholes touch me and use me because at least they were paying for the privilege and that money went towards blankets and food to keep those kids going"

Jack had nothing to say, he knew now that Kyoko had no one growing up. She didn't live with Martha the way he and Yusei and Crow had. He still didn't know where she lived all those years, he assumed some sort of adult had to be looking out for her because children generally didn't fare well on their own in Satellite,

"Kiryu" Kyoko said breaking the silence, "Kiryu looked after me. He was a few years older and he was the one who looked after me. I met him when I was five and he was ten he looked out for me when I was too little to do it myself"

"So that's why you only talked to him all winter"

"He knows how much I hate it. He was always the one making sure I ate or slept or kept warm. He was the only one who ever gave a damn about me growing up"

There were a few more hours of silence after that with Kyoko refusing to speak and Jack trying to process all the new information Kyoko had given him. He couldn't believe that after he'd left she'd had to resort to such drastic tactics just to survive.

* * *

"I'm sorry" Jack said finally, it was almost dawn now and Yusei still hadn't arrived with bail, they'd be let out in the morning anyway so Jack didn't expect him to show, "If I'd have known –"

"You'd have left anyway Jack don't pretend like you wouldn't have" Kyoko interrupted, "If I'd had the chance to get out of there who knows what I would have done"

"Godwin wanted Stardust" Jack explained, "He wanted the power of the crimson dragon and Stardust would give him an edge. He told me it was my only way out or I never would have taken it"

"I believe you on that much" Kyoko nodded

"You should sleep" Jack told her, standing up he held out the blanket he'd been given when they were put in the cell, "It's almost dawn"

"That'll make three days then" Kyoko hummed accepting the blanket, Jack turned to return to his own corner of the holding cell, "Where do you think you're going? It's freezing in here and you're like a human radiator"

Jack laughed slightly and edged onto the bench beside Kyoko who after some fidgeting and repositioning ended up lying almost on top of Jack,

"Sleep. Yusei'll be here in the morning and he won't bail us out if we're still arguing"

"He's not gonna bail us out anyway. I'm taking that bail money off him and I'm gonna give it to someone who will actually use it" Kyoko complained, she was too tired however for it to come across as anything but grumpy so she simply shut her eyes and let Jack keep her warm.

Winter was a horrible season but maybe if Jack was willing to keep her warm Kyoko would be alright.

* * *

**Supposed to be angsty but I suck at angst so it's whatever the hell this is. Hurt/Comfort maybe? Idk**

**I was gonna write something sweet for this pairing for Valentines but then I thought "Nah let's make em hurt instead" **

**I always imagined that growing up in an orphanage in a place no one cared about would have been pretty shit and even more so in winter time when it's freezing cold and all you have are threadbare sheets that have been found somewhere. So it makes sense that they'd double up in beds to keep each other warm. **

**Also as far as Prostitution goes I think that Kyoko having associated with someone who I'm sure everyone would think thought he was "too good" for Satellite would not be treated well at all and would be at the bottom rung of the ladder. **

**Like and favourite if you enjoyed this, leave a review in the bigger on the inside blue box why not check out my other stories while you're on my page and maybe you'll find something else to interest you. Before reading anything take a look at the list in my bio it has summaries of everything so maybe you'll find something you like there.**

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